The Red Sox have announced that Jason Varitek has been named a special assistant to general manager Ben Cherington. Cherington’s statement:

“He will be involved in a number of areas, including major league personnel decisions, evaluations, and mentorship and instruction of young players. We are fortunate to have him in this role.”

While many view this as some first step toward a larger role such as maybe being a manager one day, Gordon Edes points out something you don’t think about too often: one of the reasons that teams like to have former players in the front office is that they have contacts with current players on other teams which can come in handy during free agent hunting season.